discussion Maskol on top of varnish?

[AlanG]

I was thinking about using some maskol on a kit build i have planned and was wondering if anyone knows if it reacts to a sealing coat of varnish (probably Klear or Xtracrylix). Or are there other masking fluids out there that would be better to use?

 

[Dave Ward]

Al,
I use masking fluid over and under varnish, the only problem you can get is that if the varnish is applied over the masking, then, when you remove it, the varnish can lift as well - varnishes tend to be a bit tougher than normal paint. I used to use Maskol, but I now use Jackson's Masking Fluid - it doesn't have any particular advantage, but it's cheaper! You can get it from art suppliers.
Dave

 

[AlanG]

Cheers Dave. I have a specific paint scheme i would like to try and i was going to paint the base colour then varnish then mask and apply the final paint scheme. Once lifting the maskol it would show the base colour. So i didn't know if the maskol would react with a varnish. I suppose it's like doing a chipping effect right?

 

[Dave Ward]

Alan,
why do you want to varnish over the basecolour? The masking will work over any surface finish, and too many coats will begin to reduce the sharpness of any details
Dave

 

[AlanG]

I didn't know if the maskol would pull up the base colour so hence the reasoning of thinking about sealing it in. I've never used maskol before and i have a bottle in the collection. thought it was about time to have a play with it

 

[Dave Ward]

Normally the reason that masking pulls up the underlying paint is poor adhesion of the basecoat - I wash the plastic surface with soapy water, before priming and basecoating, I try not to handle the surface, before masking. Even though care is taken, paint can lift, compound concave curves - like wing roots - are prone to this. It's pretty rare to get a perfect finish straight off!
Dave

 

[AlanG]

I admit i don't prime my builds because i'm lazy. It just seems to much of a faff to do. I rarely get paint lift if i use Tamiya paints. Vallejo and Xtracrylix seem to lift a little bit sometimes.

I just thought one coat of varnish might help stop this happening before applying the maskol. I need to be careful because this is going to be a massive and intricate paint job for me and i seriously don't want to mess it up. If i did i think the mojo and the teddy would be booted out of the window lol